Christmas 2 (B) + Rooted and Trusting in God + 1.4.15

M. Campbell-Langdell

All Santos, Oxnard

(Jer. 31:7-14; Ps. 84; Eph. 1:3-6, 15-19a; Matt. 2:13-15, 19-23)

Sometimes it is interesting, turning to texts such as today’s gospel text, to find where the gaps exist. In the middle of these powerful scenes depicting God’s guidance of Joseph in keeping his family safe, in keeping our Messiah safe, there is a small excluded section. What is that story? Well, some churches commemorated the event last Sunday and Monday, the feast of the Holy Innocents. In it we hear that Herod, afraid of this rumored Messianic baby, kills all the boys under the age of two in the region, but Joseph has already fled, as described in the first verses here, and Jesus is spared for the time being.

You might wonder why I go to such a dark page of our salvific history. And it raises a hard question. Why is Jesus saved this time, but not these other precious lives? I would like to say that it is so that from Jesus onward no more innocent lives would be lost in a tragic manner. But we know that’s just not true. Was there a one of us receiving the paper yesterday, whose heart did not break a little, reading that small headline at the top, about a one and a half year old baby stabbed? We pray for that family. We have mourned with the families of the AirAsia jet’s dead this past week.

How do we make our way through all of the different hard things in our world, so that the eyes of our hearts can be enlightened?

Part of the way we make our way through is looking for the glimpses of hope, just as the gospel writers did, for example Matthew, today, finding this baby that survived this tragedy.

I heard a replay of a very interesting interview on Friday, between Krista Tippett and a Dr. Bessel Van der Kolk for the program “On Being.” Dr. Van der Kolk works with severely traumatized people and uses movement therapies such as yoga to help people who have often gotten separated from their bodies back into a sense of integration with their bodies. Reflecting on the increasing amounts of violence and trauma that we hear about in the news, Tippett asked Van der Kolk if he thought we had a worsening society. And he said no. He said that we need to notice all the good that is actually happening around the world. He cited his patients’ life force that again and again brings them back to a place of healing. He refused to remain negative about our world and the direction in which we are going.[1]

Reflecting on the sad and the hopeful events of late, I am struck by something. And that is that none of us by worrying can control the flow of negative actions in our world. Just as Jesus began the salvific action in the world by entering it, and just as our souls have already been saved, we are not yet in God’s kingdom because human pain, pain indeed in all of creation, still occurs. We are still broken.
I was struck by two hopeful things however. Dr. Van der Kolk mentioned that dreams are amazing things. They help the human psyche remain resilient by processing traumatizing events, or just difficult ones.[2] You know what I mean. Often after a rough day, one might have very strange dreams, which are our bodies’ way of assimilating all that we have been processing throughout the day.
We can also receive guidance in our dreams. Joseph is in tune with his dreams enough to hear God’s guidance in the dreams he receives and to respond to keep his family safe. Dreams help us really hear our own voice and sometimes God’s voice if we listen hard enough.
But how can we get there? We must learn to trust. To trust God in every situation, no matter how bleak. I am struck that the happiest people I know do not have the happiest life circumstances at all times, but manage to maintain trust in God’s goodness and provision for them despite what lies in their paths. One of Pastor Alene’s aunts is a prime example of this for me. She has recently died, but for about fifty years she lived with an almost constant headache, but you never saw Aunt Alice without a smile. Joseph had no reason to believe anything was going to turn out well. He was running from one bad situation and then trying to return, almost runs into another bad situation. But he trusts in God’s guidance nonetheless.

Bessel Van der Kolk suggests that part of being able to stay resilient and not to immediately respond to a traumatizing situation is being centered enough in your own body, feeling safe in your own skin.[3] What about a new year’s resolution that includes trusting your instincts? Or even better, trusting God’s guidance? Not just following the culturally prescribed goals of eating better, exercising more and so forth, which are admirable goals. But what about sinking deeper into yourself in order to listen to yourself and to God’s movement in your own life?

There is very little in the world as presented by the media that gives us a guarantee that we can be hopeful. The news will always feature the holy innocents among us before focusing on the surviving children, on the glimmers of hope. But we hear this beautiful prayer in Ephesians: “I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe (1:17-19).”
I suggest that for us, the way to live in this hope, with our hearts enlightened, is to trust first in God’s goodness. That although awful things continue to occur, God is good and wishes to lead each of us in the way that is best for each of us. And as we trust in this, we will hear guidance. We may hear it in a dream, or in our prayers, or in the suggestion of a friend in Christ. But when we trust ourselves, get centered in our own bodies and spirits, God can speak to us, and begin to rebuild us and make us feel safe.

And it is only then, after praying, and rooting ourselves and trusting God’s good guidance, that we will be able to begin the great work of rebuilding this broken world. It is only then that we can show the world the life force and the hope that are in it, because of Jesus, that bright light, who came to dwell among us.

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[1] Krista Tippett and Bessel Van der Kolk: “Restoring the Body: Yoga, EMDR and Treating Trauma,” (July 11, 2013), (http://www.onbeing.org/program/bessel-van-der-kolk-restoring-the-body/transcript/5826).

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.